Saturday, August 16, 2008

Helping patients understand what you did for them is always a challenge. Helping them understand what they need to do at home to remain healthy is even more challenging. Often I would draw pictures of the problem in which they sought care for to help them comprehend the illness and treatment.

My intentions are well-served, however my drawings are something out of a stick-figure nightmare. The human heart (nothing like its valentine's counterpart) is complex and amazing, and very challenging to draw. Lines and curves and arrows demonstrate this incredible organ and its intricate extensions of arteries and veins all in an attempt to illustrate the bare basics of various ailments of the heart.

Alas, my attempt to expalin disease processes and their treatments to improve home compliance is good intentioned. And just maybe those scribbled stick figures make sense to someone else besides me.